New Hampshire Fish and Game Comission, February 17, 2016. Retrieved from http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/newsroom/news.html?news=306
The New Hampshire Fish and Game Commission today voted 5 to 4 to move forward on a proposal to establish a bobcat hunting and trapping season in New Hampshire.
The Fish and Game Commission is proposing to issue a total of 50 bobcat permits through a lottery process. The draft season would be similar to New Hampshire’s fisher season, with December trapping and January hunting. The proposal would take effect in December of 2016.
All of New Hampshire’s neighboring states and provinces – Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts and Quebec – currently have more liberal bobcat seasons than that proposed by N.H. Fish and Game.
“As our bobcat population has increased and expanded, some New Hampshire residents have expressed an interest in hunting and/or trapping bobcats. Other residents have expressed an interest in seeing the bobcat population continue to grow. The conservative bobcat season being proposed for New Hampshire is designed to accommodate both of these interests and is consistent with the Department’s mission,” said NH Fish and Game Commission Chair Ted Tichy.
The next step for the rule proposal is approval by the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (JLCAR).
For more background on New Hampshire’s bobcat season proposal, see www.wildnh.com/wildlife/bobcat-season-proposal.html.